We left Rovinj at a reasonable time and took the long bus ride to Venice. Of course we could only take the bus part way. The last part of the trip was via water taxi.
We met our other tour members and our city guides in the hotel lobby, had some appetizers and then headed out on our tour of the Doge’s Palace. Patrice insisted we visited this place when we were in Venice in October of 2022. Unfortunately I had no memory of going inside. A check of my blog posts failed to show any mention of the palace so it looks like I was right for a change. Patrice had been to Venice once without me so she must have confused the two trips (Patrice here: I remember enjoying my visit of the Doge’s palace so Robert definitely wasn’t on that trip).
The palace was okay but I was tired, hot, and my back was aching so this was not a highlight for me. Here are a couple of things I did like. Statues of Hercules and Atlas.
I think those muscular bodies reminded me of myself when I look in the mirror each morning. (Patrice here again. Did Robert mention he has cataracts?)
After the palace, Gabby took us to a local Murano glass blowing shop. There we saw an amazing demonstration of how these objects are made. Below is a link to a video of what we saw.
They showed us all sorts of beautiful works of art they have for sale. We decided not to buy the serving tray, decanter, and set of glasses for 1,800 Euros in spite of it being discounted down from 2,800 Euros. It was a close call. Patrice elbowed me and said, “Let’s get it”. My intestines started to roar, my heart began to race, and my pores began to pour out sweat. But then I was saved by one of our fellow travelers asking, “Can you put them in a dishwasher?” With the answer being, “No, do not put these items in a dishwasher”, Patrice said, “Forget it” and I could breathe again.
We headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner and that is when I really began to sweat. I had given my fellow travelers the big build up and now it was time to perform my magic trick. Patrice videoed the event and although I won’t be making anyone forget David Copperfield or Doug Henning, I do think things went pretty well. Check out the video and let me know what you think.
Shortly after this we said goodbye to our 20 new friends and hopefully we will see them again very soon.
Time for me to say goodnight to my followers. Believe it or not we leave for the airport via water taxi at 3:40 AM.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 